NVIDIA CEO comments on GeForce Partner Program

Nvidia recently held a conference call on their latest financial results, one person in the call was Jen-Hsung Huang, and he is the CEO of Nvidia. He was asked about the cancellation of the Geforce Partner Program in relation to how Nvidia came to that decision and what the possible implications are on market share.

Jen-Hsung Huang 'The majority of the ecosystem embraced it, but some people hated it'. In his believe one gaming brand (say ROG) per videocard brand (NVIDIA) would be more transparent. More graphics cards series (Gaming / ROG / AMD/ NVIDIA) and brands under one label (ROG) would be less transparent. Have a read on his reaction below as spotted by our colleagues from HWI. It's a comment, albeit a small one:

Toshiya Hari - Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

Great. Thank you so much. Jensen, I had a question regarding your decision to pull the plug on your GeForce Partner Program. I think most of us read your blog from last Friday. I think it was, so we understand the basic background. But if you can describe what led to this decision and perhaps talk a little bit about the potential implications, if any, in terms of your ability to compete or gain share. That will be really helpful. Thank you so much.

Jen-Hsun Huang - NVIDIA Corp.

Yeah. Thanks for your question, Toshiya. At the core, the program was about making

sure that gamers who buy graphics cards knows exactly the GPU brand that's inside. And the reason for that is because, we want gamers to – the gaming experience of a graphics card depends so much on the GPU that is chosen.

And we felt that using one gaming brand, a graphics card brand, and interchanging the GPU underneath causes it to be less – causes it to be more opaque and less transparent for a gamer to choose the GPU brand that they wanted. And most of the ecosystem loved it. And some of the people really disliked it.

And so instead of all that distraction, we're doing so well. And we're going to continue to help the gamers choose the graphics cards, like we always have, and things will sort out. And so we decided to pull the plug because the distraction was unnecessary and we have too much good stuff to go do.

Nvidia Confirms Shield Pro-console with 500GB - 05/21/2015 03:05 PM
An Nvidia employee has confirmed a Pro edition of Nvidia's streaming Shield Console, to be released in May close to Computex. The console will come with Android TV in the Pro as a normal version wit...

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang Blogs about GTX 970 - 02/24/2015 07:50 PM
CEO and Founder of NVidia Jen-Hsun Huang has written a post on Nvidia's blog regarding the GeForc GTX 970. It is quite unusual for a CEO to do this, so I'll just leave it for you to read. After th...

sure that gamers who buy graphics cards knows exactly the GPU brand that's inside. And the reason for that is because, we want gamers to – the gaming experience of a graphics card depends so much on the GPU that is chosen.

And we felt that using one gaming brand, a graphics card brand, and interchanging the GPU underneath causes it to be less – causes it to be more opaque and less transparent for a gamer to choose the GPU brand that they wanted. And most of the ecosystem loved it. And some of the people really disliked it.

And so instead of all that distraction, we're doing so well. And we're going to continue to help the gamers choose the graphics cards, like we always have, and things will sort out. And so we decided to pull the plug because the distraction was unnecessary and we have too much good stuff to go do.

"Don't ever, for any reason, do anything for anyone, for any reason, ever, no matter what. No matter where. Or who, or who you are with, or where you are going or... or where you've been... ever. For any reason, whatsoever."

— Michael Scott, The Office

Fox2232
Senior Member

Posts: 8154
Joined: 2012-07-20

#5546813 Posted on: 05/15/2018 07:49 AM

“Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some.”

On that note, I wonder why those manufacturers who joined happily in, did not kick nVidia out of their brands and made new brands/product lines for nVidia.Why did they instead kick out AMD's cards away? It really does not matter what he or anyone says. Only thing that matters is what they did.

Edit: but if words matter to some more than actions..."we want gamers to..."; "And we felt that..."

They wanted something because they felt like something. And so they imposed their will upon AIBs.

Kaarme
Senior Member

Posts: 1336
Joined: 2013-03-10

#5546814 Posted on: 05/15/2018 07:49 AM
The level of Huang's arrogance is quite astonishing. Nvidia gets so much money from gamers, but Huang is looking down on gamers as if they were all blistering idiots who don't know or understand anything. It shows how strong a company's position is when the CEO can call their own customers morons publicly.

fantaskarsef
Senior Member

Posts: 9533
Joined: 2014-07-21

#5546816 Posted on: 05/15/2018 07:54 AM
Better not comment here or people might get bashed for not bashing Nvidia.

KissSh0t
Senior Member

Posts: 6297
Joined: 2011-10-22

#5546818 Posted on: 05/15/2018 08:07 AM

Better not comment here or people might get bashed for not bashing Nvidia.

Like the giant logos AMD and NVIDIA both put on the box? Or the even bigger text spelling out exactly which GPU it is although third party designs or well non-reference models tend to have names are OMG1337LEDWOW so yeah that can be a bit of a throw off but it's usually also in tandem with the actual GPU model name and manufacturer of said GPU so it should be a non issue really.

It's not *that* difficult even if "Ohh shiny box, must buy." takes hold or whatever the GPP was supposed to alleviate.

(NV Logo, GeForce name, EVGA as the partner, product name and it's even on the box even if no-one reads the small print text on the backside.)

EDIT: And AMD which follows the same design, it's even color coded.(Ohh wonder if it's the same as Pepsi and Cola in terms of rivalry here.)

(Though they omit AMD or ATI in favor of just being R rated. :p )

EDIT: So yeah even without GPP just looking at the box should be clear enough, attention span deficit and all that but we're not quite at that level yet, I hope ha ha.

But what do I know, 30+ years old so probably way outside of the teenage-gamer target group what with shiny blinking lights and what not. (Well I suppose not all hardware is going for "gaming" brand products just yet or at least not all out with LED's and weird copyright terms like military class heh.)

GlennB
Senior Member

Posts: 144
Joined: 2009-12-12

#5546821 Posted on: 05/15/2018 08:21 AM
Great so they where making a solution for a problem that doesn't exist....

Clawedge
Senior Member

Posts: 2197
Joined: 2006-09-02

#5546826 Posted on: 05/15/2018 08:35 AM

JonasBeckman dude, is this like the amd brand? Radeon right?

/S!

Snorgrind
Junior Member

Posts: 15
Joined: 2010-12-22

#5546840 Posted on: 05/15/2018 09:20 AM
Well, there are similar looking boxes like MSI have but there are still big geforce and radeon names on them. Whatever manufacturers add like gaming, ROG etc. is just random nonsense.

JonasBeckman
Senior Member

Posts: 14806
Joined: 2009-02-25

#5546841 Posted on: 05/15/2018 09:25 AM

JonasBeckman dude, is this like the amd brand? Radeon right?

/S!

Heh yeah just as GlennB above posted they solved a problem which didn't really exist in the first place.

Or at least made it sound like they were working on making it more clear what you're buying but retail hardware store well they're usually stored separately instead of mixed and for online there's all kinds of listings and categories to sort products by so even less of a risk there and even just skimming through the text they usually have the product name and vendor listed more prominently plus the box image and then images for the GPU itself and all that.

GPP wouldn't really do much for reselling via bidding sites or similar either and for custom designs even these often follow the same design by having the GPU name listed too along with vendor and then EVGA, Sapphire or whoever in addition to the custom cards name such as Kingpin or Nitro.(Which after a quick comparison the Kingpin is a clean black box with 1080Ti listed prominently on the front and while the Nitor from Sapphire has a bit more clutter the Vega 56/64 GPU model is also clearly displayed.)

EDIT: #1Ah the above is a good example too but yeah even here the GPU vendor and name are displayed on the front and very clearly visible without other design elements obscuring anything.

EDIT: #2Perhaps having something like GamingX recognized as only NVIDIA might mean something but actually buying the product all this other info would very quickly tell which vendor and GPU type is used even if it's the same non-reference GPU brand name for them.

Besides NVIDIA GamingX on it's own wouldn't really clear up if it's a 1050, 1060, 1070, 1070ti, 1080 or 1080ti would it. GamingX is now NVIDIA but that on it's own doesn't really seem like it accomplishes anything other than AMD having to have their GPU's under a different name.

I suppose there's something for brand loyalty and recognition and some hardware enthusiasts swearing by certain names but I don't know, might be looking at it wrong.

EDIT: #3What's in a name I suppose and the power of brand loyalty and such stuff.

We'll never really know the full extent of the deal and agreements and NVIDIA's actual goals and how they intended for this to have worked and with a lot being verbal or implied as it seems then there's not much signed info on the contract itself available is there?(Tons of conflicting info and then NVIDIA trying to be silent about the whole thing but it ultimately fell through and now we have some PR and similar responses for their side of this entire debacle.)

alanm
Senior Member

Posts: 8230
Joined: 2004-05-10

#5546856 Posted on: 05/15/2018 10:56 AM
Well, there are similar looking boxes like MSI have but there are still big geforce and radeon names on them. Whatever manufacturers add like gaming, ROG etc. is just random nonsense.

That pic gives a lot of weight to Huangs argument. Whether that was the real reason for GPP or not may be debatable. But to edge out AMD from recognizable gaming brands to further weaken their market presence also sounds like something Nvidia (or Intel) would do.

Backstabak
Senior Member

Posts: 212
Joined: 2015-11-13

#5546858 Posted on: 05/15/2018 10:58 AM
What a good guy that CEO. It's not like he's trying to monopolize the well established and recognizable brands that AIBs have poured millions into over the years, no. He's only trying to help the poor, stupid customers.

nevcairiel
Senior Member

Posts: 376
Joined: 2015-05-19

#5546865 Posted on: 05/15/2018 11:20 AMOn that note, I wonder why those manufacturers who joined happily in, did not kick nVidia out of their brands and made new brands/product lines for nVidia.Why did they instead kick out AMD's cards away? It really does not matter what he or anyone says. Only thing that matters is what they did.

The answer to that is quite obvious, isn't it? NVIDIA is the clear market leader in GPU space right now and has been for the last couple years. If AMD can close the performance and marketshare gap, the reaction might be different.

Kaarme
Senior Member

Posts: 1336
Joined: 2013-03-10

#5546869 Posted on: 05/15/2018 11:53 AM

That pic gives a lot of weight to Huangs argument.

If someone can't tell those two apart then that person has no business entering a PC hardware store and even less business opening a PC case and trying to install anything. That's why Huang's excuse is nothing but a lousy excuse when the real purpose was obviously trying to limit competition. When this whole thing became news back in the day, I didn't care so much about it as those brands don't matter so much to me, but once it was revealed how draconian Nvidia was about it, who could anymore condone it?

You know, people can even find a yoghurt with no/low fat or normal fat among the selection in a grocery store. Maybe Huang can't, but most people can. I'm pretty sure they can choose the GPU they want as well without the Nvidia CEO holding their hand.